"Anna!"

"Clara!"

"Mummy!"

"Anna!"

"Clara! Wake up!"

Her eyes flashed open, and she sat up, looking around. Finally she spotted Colette, and frowned.

"Colette? What's the matter?"

"You have to come to the village quickly! The Desians have attacked!" she cried, and Clara realised she had been crying.

"I'm coming," Clara replied, standing up and quickly getting dressed. She strapped her swords to her side, then went downstairs. Dirk was waiting there, and raised a bushy eyebrow as she walked in.

"Took ya a while, din't it? Here," he said, passing over her newly-fixed weapons.

"Thanks Dirk," Clara said with a grateful smile, attaching her knife to her leg, slipped the others in her bag, strapping her scythe on her back and putting the concealed knives on her wrists.

"Alright, let's go," she said, starting out with Colette and Dirk following.

As they got down to the village, they saw most of the houses were burning, the flames flickering brightly in the night. The villagers were gathered in a group, several Desians standing around with their weapons extended.

Colette led Clara and Dirk to a hidden clearing, where Raine, Kratos and Genis were hiding.

"Good, you're here Clara," Raine murmured.

"What's happened?" asked Clara.

"The Desians burst into the village, burning everything up. They demanded the 'silver-haired boy' come out, saying he'd broken the Non-Aggression Treaty."

Clara glanced at Genis, who looked ashamed. "I'm sorry," he murmured, though she suspected it was more aimed at the others than at her.

"What are we going to do?" asked Colette, looking worried.

"The sensible decision would be to leave the villagers and make our way out before we are discovered," Kratos said.

"We can't do that!" gasped Colette.

Clara bit her lip, glancing around at the Desians. There were about thirty in all, including the blue-haired man with the weird device on his arm.

"What do you suggest we do then?" asked Kratos, looking at the blond Chosen.

"I...um.."

"We fight," Clara cut in sharply, and the others looked at her. She glanced around at them. "Genis can distract them. They're looking for him, so he can say he's handing himself over. Raine, you can make your way to one side and start firing spells to confuse them, then Genis will also start using spells. Dirk, you can cover Genis, and Colette, you go with Raine. Kratos, you and I will take on any others we come across and that blue haired one," she ordered.

They nodded, starting to creep off. Kratos glanced at Clara.

"You realise this plan relies heavily on confusion and luck, don't you?" he muttered irritably.

"Of course. But I've always been a very lucky person," Clara replied with a smirk, then noticed that the others had reached their positions. "Alright Genis, go," she whispered. He nodded, stepping out and coming forward.

"Alright, I'm here. Please stop hurting them," he said, a pained look on his face. He looked exactly like a vunerable little boy, and apparently the Desians thought so too.

"Good boy. You don't look like much, but I suppose you have your uses. Now, come over here," the blue-haired one ordered, motioning. Genis started forward, eyes fixed on the ground.

"Photon!" Suddenly a bright light lit up, before several people cried out.

"What the-"

"Aqua Edge!" Genis cried, attacking the Desians. As they rushed towards them, Dirk stepped out, swinging his hammer around and attacking any that got too close.

"Keep goin' lad!" he yelled at Genis, who nodded.

"Fireball!"

"Let's go," murmured Clara, before she and Kratos burst out of the wood. They charged towards the blue-haired man, swords poised to run him through. Everything seemed to be going in slow motion, the man turning so slowly, everything rushing towards them as they drew their blades back slightly, preparing to stab...

There was a roar, and a gigantic monster leapt infront of him, taking the hits. It roared in pain as Clara stumbled back, pulling her swords from it's body.

Kratos was standing there, staring at the hideous monster. Clara couldn't really understand why; sure, it was ugly, but that was about it.

"Attack!" the blue-hair snarled, and the monster lunged at them. They only just leapt back in time, finding themselves hemmed in by the Desians, who were slowly overwhelming them.

"First Aid!" Clara heard Raine yell from somewhere, just as Genis cried, "Stone Blast!"

A chakram went flying past her head, and she dodged slightly so that it didn't hit her. It quickly flew back, landing in Colette's twirling hands as she sent them spinning out again, cutting through the enemy. She could hear Dirk swinging his hammer about, probably breaking their skulls while he was at it. A growl drew her attention to the creature infront of her.

She looked at it, feeling something starting to surface, a memory that she had long forgotten. But if she could just remember it...

Clara was snapped out of her stupor as Kratos lunged past her, hitting the monster just as it was about to hit her. She expected a reprimand, but instead he just glanced at her.

"Are you alright?" he asked.

She nodded, still a little out of it.

"If you can fight, do," he murmured, before slashing again.

"Alright alright," she muttered, racing forward and starting to attack. The two of them cut away at the monster, and finally it roared, falling forward and hitting the floor hard.

Clara was panting, and rubbed at one of the few cuts she had sustained.

"First Aid," she heard Kratos murmur, and her cuts healed.

"Thanks," she said, then turned her attention as blue-hair walked over.

He stood infront of them, his eye surveying them coolly. "And who are you? I believe I was only asking for the half-elf boy."

Genis flinched as he heard the man, and averted his eyes as Colette and Dirk stared at him, the villagers also looking at him with accusing eyes.

"Yes, well, we decided that we weren't going to hand him over. Sorry about that," Clara replied with a pleasant smile.

"What? But Clara, he's a half-elf! Just hand him over!" cried the Mayor.

Clara turned a flat stare on him. "And it's that kind of attitude which makes the relationships between humans and half-elves so rocky. He's a half-elf, so what?"

The Mayor backed away a little, turning his gaze away.

The blue-hair frowned, turning towards her.

"What is your name?" he demanded.

"Isn't it more polite to say your own name first?" Clara shot back.

Blue-hair drew himself up. "I am Forcystus, one of the five Grand Cardinals, and I am in charge of the Iselia Human Ranch.."

He was cut off as Clara shot at him, sword poised to pierce his body. He barely managed to block hair, knocking one sword out of her hand. Growling, she flicked her wrist, bringing her hand back up just as the knife shot out. Forcystus blinked, pulling back so that it just barely scraped his cheek. Snarling, he brought his hand around, and she ducked, it skimming above her and knocking her other sword from her hand. Reaching behind her, she grabbed the handle of the scythe, unhooking it and spinning it round towards him.

Forcystus blocked the deadly weapon, the two struggling against each other for a moment, before Clara flipped it, sending it spinning over his arm and swinging it round from the opposite side. Forcystus, who had stumbled as the weight had vanished, stared as the scythe came whistling towards him.

Dumb luck saved him.

Clara had slightly over shot her attack, so that the handle hit his side, curving the blade round and sinking into him on the side. It was enough to draw blood, but wasn't fatal like she had planned. Before she could attack again, several other Desians had hurried over, blocking her off and forcing her to fend for herself.

Forcystus was helped up by one of the other soldiers.

"This isn't the last time we'll meet...human," he hissed to her before he was carried off.

A/N: Am I good at fight scenes? I dunno, it's hard to write a fight scene with a scythe, they have all that twirly shiz...(watch Soul Eater, it's kinda like how Maka uses Soul)

I'll probably be updating this once a week, seeing as I already have nine chapters ready to upload and I'm still writing it on my Wordpad. It's getting ridiculously long, I keep skipping bits I'm trying to read...

Review?